Far Away
by darkdoll25
Summary: A classic Friends with Benefits AU with a nonclassic ending. Rated T for suggestive themes.


**Far Away**

Chapter 1: Dead Eyes

He's always seeing her sitting in that lonely place by the bar. She would twirl her martini in her hands and with robot-like movements, pick the olive out of the drink and swallow it in one swoop. It was a daily routine and Ichigo didn't know why he made it his habit to watch her.

She was beautiful, he couldn't deny that, and ridiculously short (but what can he say, everyone was short to him. He was almost 6 feet). But there was something about her that set her from everyone else. Her eyes.

They were dead.

Ichigo remembered remarking to himself that it was as if life never existed in those beautiful purple orbs.

This became a repeated thing: Ichigo would come into the bar around 10 p.m. and sit in his regular chair. After staring at his watch for 10 minutes, the door would clang, signaling the newest customer. It would be her, and she would walk to her spot in 10 seconds and order the same thing as she did the night before and the night before that. But today would be different.

It took all of one hour for him to gather up his courage to talk to her. He wanted to learn something from her. Maybe she had a few secrets to tell and they would be (beautiful) dark secrets with (beautiful) meanings behind them. To Ichigo, everything she did was beautiful.

"Excuse me, miss?"

Ichigo cleared his throat and waited for a response. The girl stiffened and slowly turned his way. Her eyes were still emotionless.

"Yes? May I help you?"

He gave her a relieved smile. "You could start with your name." Ichigo mentally high-fived himself; being courageous and blunt was totally the way to get her talking.

She laughed and Ichigo frowned. The smile didn't reach her eyes.

"Name's Rukia. Rukia Kuchiki."

Ichigo's whole world stopped. Kuchiki? The _Kuchiki family?! _

"Wait, Kuchiki as in the leading world company of technology and manufacturing?" Ichigo wanted to stop his jaw from dropping to the floor.

"Yeah," Rukia said as she shrugged, seemingly unsurprised at the reaction. Everyone knew who her family was and what company they owned.

"I-I'm sorry," Ichigo stuttered as he stared at the spot just underneath her dead (beautiful) eyes.

"Hm?" She raised her delicate eyebrows and stared at the man before her.

"You must get that a lot."

"You have no idea," Rukia quietly muttered into her drink. Ichigo looked in dismay; she was almost done. And when she was done, she would leave and not come back until 24 hours later.

"C-Could you tell me something?"

She continued to drink and Ichigo took this as a sign to keep going.

"Why are your eyes so… lifeless?"

Silence.

She slowly rests the finished drink onto the countertop. Ichigo is scared. Scared that he said something he shouldn't have. He knows he said something he shouldn't have.

_Idiot. Idiot, idiot, idiot. _

What happened next made him freeze. The sound of laughter from Rukia's mouth. He surprised to see a little glow in her eyes.

"I don't know. Who knows anything these days?" She now has a big smile and a twinkle in her eyes.

Ichigo chuckled, not knowing how to respond.

Rukia gets up (Ichigo notes that she barely reaches his shoulders) and walks around him towards the front door. Ichigo didn't want her to go just yet.

He reached for her arm and stopped her in her tracks.

"Can we talk a little bit more?"

Rukia turned around and seemed to think for awhile. She nods and gestures towards the exit with her head. Ichigo beamed inside and quickly grabbed his jacket to chase after her retreating figure. He realizes that this is an image he'll see for a very long time.

oOoOo

Ichigo woke up and immediately scrambled to his feet. He stared at the sleeping body in the silk bed he was previously in. What happened last night?

_He remembers walking behind Rukia to her mansion. It was as gorgeous as the woman in front of him. He had walked into the living room and admired all the furniture. He heard a pop of a bottle and turned towards the noise. It was Rukia and she was pouring drinks for both of them. She had a distraught look on her face. He remembers –faintly- asking her what was wrong but she just shook her head. She threw on a fake smile (he immediately hates it) and held out the drink towards him. He walked over and took the glass. In one swift movement, he downed the contents. She kept on refilling them and Ichigo wanted her to stop. He knew that she was trying to drown her sorrows and now she was taking him down with her. The night ends with both of them tumbling into bed and having desperate sex. She wanted to forget and he wanted to help. _

He clamped his hand over his mouth. He didn't want this (yes he did) and wanted this nightmare to end (more of a dream really). There were so many things wrong with this. Ichigo had always been the romantic; he had sex when he wanted to make love to a girl. He never did or wanted to have drunken sex, especially to someone he only talked to for less than an hour.

Rukia stirred and slowly got into a seated position on her bed. She hugged her legs and tilted her head to stare into the brown eyes of the man towering over her. They were both –unashamed for her part and ashamed for his- nude, but this did not matter just yet. A talk was coming and Rukia already knew what she wanted.

She always got what she wanted after all.

"…Did.. Did I.."

Ichigo looked like he was about to crumple to the floor.

"Hm?"

A moment passed.

"Did I …" He took a breath.

"Rape you?"

She shook her head and Ichigo let out the breath of air he didn't know he was holding.

"You didn't take advantage of me. I knew what I was doing." She swung her legs over the side of the bed and got up gracefully. She took slow strides towards Ichigo and picked up his shirt from the ground. She smirked and pulled it over her head. Ichigo blushed; he could see her nipples poking out.

Ichigo gulped and opened his mouth, but was abruptly stopped by Rukia.

"Do you want to talk about what just happened?"

He nodded feverishly. Desperately, he thinks.

"We should work out something," Ichigo said. He knew they mutually wanted this to continue(more so on his part than hers).

"The sex was great," she replied nonchalantly. Ichigo could not get any redder and hotter in the face.

"What do you suppose we do?"

"I think we should do a 'friends with benefits' kind of thing."

He nodded slowly, scared that she might change her mind. He didn't like this arrangement (love was better and it made everything more beautiful). He would do anything in his power to keep this relationship (beautiful).

But there was one more issue to be addressed.

"Wait," Ichigo quickly said as Rukia was getting ready to leave.

She looked at him expectantly.

"What do we do if we.. uhm.. fall in love with each other? Or one-sided love, I mean?" He quickly added the last part, not wanting to sound hopeful.

She laughed humorlessly for a while. Ichigo couldn't help but feel hurt (what was so wrong about a beautiful thing like love?).

"I won't fall in love, rookie."

Ichigo's eyes widened. Had she done this before?

"Hmm, let me rephrase that."

She turned and walked towards Ichigo, her gaze unwavering. She stopped right in front of him and looked straight into his eyes.

She then said the next few words in a tone that broke Ichigo's heart.

"I can't fall in love."


End file.
